Why CIOs need a seat at the M&A table

Prior to the digital revolution, mergers and acquisitions were primarily pursued to drive synergies and acquire targets similar to a company’s own organization. These traditional M&A deals were conceptualized and executed across the C-suite, but often left CIOs off the playing field. But in today’s fast-changing digital landscape, business success is increasingly measured by the…

IDG Contributor Network: The path to explainable AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) shifts the computing paradigm from rule-based programming to an outcome-based approach. It allows processes to operate at scale, reducing the number of human processing errors, and inventing new ways of solving problems. AlphaGo inspired Go players to try new strategies after experts had been using the same opening moves for 3,000 years.…

Why digital transformations are lagging

Ask CIOs how their digital transformations are faring and they’ll proudly speak about successful cloud migrations, empowered workforces and analytics that get them closer to their customers. But new data suggests that Big Bang business transformations are lagging or even nonexistent. Fifty-six percent of 1,559 business and IT decision makers surveyed by Forrester Research say…

The best free BI tools, 2018

Business intelligence (BI) software is designed to help enterprises discover and visualize their data to drive better business outcomes. These widely deployed applications come in various forms, including high-priced offerings, but many businesses are well served by free services that incorporate most of the key features organizations need. There are many factors and options to…

Innovation pays off for Synchrony Financial

Few companies can simultaneously trace their roots to the Great Depression era and consider themselves “digitally native.” Synchrony Financial, the $13.6 billion consumer financial services company and private-label credit card provider, is one among that unique bunch. Synchrony spun out of GE in 2014, right smack into the surging world of fintech that now includes…